The document discusses the rise of social media and its intersection with politics and public opinion. It notes that social media use has grown dramatically in recent years and is now a major part of political communication. Politicians and publics now engage with each other through platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. However, scholars are still working to understand the complex social media ecosystem and its effects. While social media was important in events like the Arab Spring, it can also potentially threaten democracy in some cases. The presenter aims to explore these issues.

1. Social Media
and the New
Public Sphere
Re-thinking the roles of political communication and public
opinion in the age of participatory media
Copyright
Heather L. LaMarre, PhD, MPA

2. A little About My Research
Political Communication and Public Opinion Scholar
The role of entertainment and social media in the
public sphere
The uses and effects of these media on attitudes,
opinions, and behaviors, which have social,
economic, and political consequences for individuals,
groups, and organizations in civil society
Copyright 2/12/2012Heather L LaMarre

3. Simply put, how do these media
affect our democracy?
Copyright 2/12/2012Heather L LaMarre

4. Tonight’s Focus:
Social Media and Politics
The rise of social media in political communication
Intersections between socially mediated politics
and public opinion
Changing dynamics and roles for political elites,
journalists, and publics
Discussion
Copyright 2/12/2012Heather L LaMarre

5. Social Media Snapshot….
Data source: Knight Foundation, 2012
 Over 50,000 people list themselves as a “social media
consultant” on Linkedin
 200 million Tweets are sent per day with over 10 million
users
 Over 50 million users on Facebook
 YouTube is the second largest search engine and largest
video-sharing site on the Internet
 Tumblr is a blogging platform that has over 1.5 billion views
per month and is one of the top 50 sites on the Internet
 Flickr is the top online photo sharing site with the most stock
images available under common creative licensing (you can
use them without paying a fee)
Copyright 2/12/2012Heather L LaMarre

6. The Rise of Political Social Media in
the United States
Pew Research Center Internet and American Life Project
1994: Senator Diane Feinstein, Democrat of California, put up the first campaign web
site.
1998: The Minnesota campaign of independent Jesse Ventura featured email.
2000: GOP presidential candidate John McCain began raising money online and used
the Internet to disseminate political news and information.
2004: Howard Dean's presidential campaign used blogs to generate voter interest,
recruit, motivate volunteers and change the interplay between citizens and
campaigns.
2008: Social media tools were used including candidate Facebook pages, Twitter
feeds, texting services and others. The New York Times said Barack Obama was the
first presidential candidature to truly understand social media.
2010: Most Congressional campaigns and over 53% of voters used social media to
connect to election information and news.
2012: Mobile apps are expected to rise significantly during election cycle.
Copyright 2/12/2012Heather L LaMarre

7. Social Media and Politics
The rise of social media in political communication
Intersections between socially mediated politics
and public opinion
What we know about the uses and effects of social
media in US and international politics
Changing dynamics and roles for political elites,
journalists, and publics
Discussion
Copyright 2/12/2012Heather L LaMarre

8. The New Public Sphere…..in the
United Stated
July 23, 2007 – The first
YouTube Debate
April 20, 2011 – The
first White House
Facebook Town Hall
July 6, 2011 – The first
White House Twitter
Town Hall
Copyright 2/12/2012Heather L LaMarre

9. The New Public Sphere…..in the
Middle East
“The structural changes changing our world today are in
fact empowering individuals as never before.” (Prepared by: ISN Staff;
http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Current-Affairs/)
Copyright 2/12/2012Heather L LaMarre

10. Social media global attitudes
project
“In 15 of 21 countries, at least
25% of those polled use social
networking sites. Israel (53%)
and the U.S. (50%) top the list
with the highest percentage of
adults who say they use online
social networking sites such as
Facebook.”
(PEW global attitudes survey,
2011).
Copyright 2/12/2012Heather L LaMarre

11. Social Media and Politics
The rise of social media in political communication
Intersections between socially mediated politics
and public opinion
Changing dynamics and roles for political elites,
journalists, and publics
Discussion
Copyright 2/12/2012Heather L LaMarre

12. Scholars are growing interested in understanding the social media
eco-system…..it is proving to be a complex, dynamic system that is
rapidly changing and difficult to empirically examine
Copyright 2/12/2012Heather L LaMarre

13. Social Media Matters in US Politics
“During the 2010 elections, more Republicans used
Twitter than did Democrats running for the House of
Representatives……and empirical evidence suggests a
that there was a significant relationship between
Twitter Use and increased odds of winning the
election.” (LaMarre, 2012)
Copyright 2/12/2012Heather L LaMarre

14. Copyright 2/12/2012Heather L LaMarre
“After analyzing more than 3 million tweets, gigabytes of YouTube
content and thousands of blog posts, a new study finds that social
media played a central role in shaping political debates in the
Arab Spring” (O’Donnell, 2011) http://www.washington.edu/news/articles/new-study-quantifies-use-of-social-media-in-
arab-spring)
Social Media Matters in World Social
Change

15. Copyright 2/12/2012Heather L LaMarre
“There has been much coverage of the role of social media in
spreading democracy. But what dangers can social media pose when
in the wrong hands? Can it be more effective against freedom than
working for it?” (NATO, http://www.nato.int/docu/review/2011/Social_Medias/Dark-Side-Social-Media/EN)
Examples: Facebook and Twitter are illegal in China
Authoritarian regimes such as Iran are using using social media to
identify and track protestors
Wikileaks puts classified information at risk
But Can Social Media Hurt
Democracy?

16. Information and Democracy
“If you took all of the information produced in the entire
history of US journalism and turned it into digital data……it
would equal about the amount of information produced in a
single day on the Internet” (MIT media lab, Knight foundation media learning seminar, 2012)
Copyright 2/12/2012Heather L LaMarre

17. Thank You!
Presented by, Heather LaMarre
hlamarre@umn.edu
Copyright 2/12/2012Heather L LaMarre